


Fifteen Years

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Beards (Relationships), Coming Out, Drunken Confessions, Friends to Lovers, M/M, POV Erwin Smith, Past Military Service
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4639311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike and Erwin get drunk, lose their clothes, and spill a few secrets. </p>
<p>This is a side blurb for my multi-chapter fic  <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4163316/chapters/9395643">These things take forever</a>, but it can be read separately.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifteen Years

“Fuck, it’s hot,” I groaned. “I’m done with clothes. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Not at all,” Mike said from where he lounged on my bedroom floor. We were lying in the heat and getting drunk on cheap beer. 

I gratefully pulled off my pants and shirt, leaving only my boxer-briefs on. Mike and I had been through a lot together over the years, from military training to war to assimilating back into regular society and new jobs. Getting nearly naked in front of him was nothing in comparison. Besides, I’d been working out lately. 

Mike, observant bastard that he is, didn’t miss out on the opportunity to tease me for it. “Oi, Erwin, are you actually that hot or did you just want to show off those muscles?”

“Oh, I’m hot,” I said, and winked back at him.

“Fucking tease,” he joked. The two of us had always had a slightly flirtatious relationship, though I know he meant nothing by it. Mike is as straight as a flagpole. I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend, actually – a short blonde girl with glasses. I’d seen them together a few times, and once I watched him help her into a taxi and kiss her on the cheek through the window. I haven’t asked him about her. We don’t talk about relationships. 

I flopped down on the bed and took a long pull from my beer. “You’re welcome to do the same,” I said, gesturing at his clothes. “I’d love to see how your six-pack is holding up.”

“Five years out of the military and you still expect me to have a six-pack?”

“Oh, definitely not,” I said. “I would be impressed.”

Mike grinned and stood up. “Prepare to be impressed, then,” he said, and shed his shirt. 

Well damn. Mike was still ripped.

He sat down beside me on the bed and pulled the beer from my hands. I watched his Adam’s apple bob languidly as he took a swig of the alcohol. A sheen of sweat from the summer heat covered his body. With the sun shining in through the window behind him like a halo, he looked like the model in a Coca-Cola commercial.

“Like what you see?” My eyes traveled up Mike’s toned body to meet his gaze. He was smirking. 

“Shit, Mike. How do you do it?” I thought I was doing well, but Mike had me seriously beat. He just shrugged. Trust him to keep his regimen as secret. I snorted and grabbed my beer back from him, taking another sip.

“Never thought I’d see you more fit than me,” I mused. He just hummed in response. Mike, even with his hair short and his stubble shaved as it was during the military, had a bit of a stoner aesthetic. Training hadn’t come as naturally to him as it did to me. 

“Do you ever miss it?” I asked, suddenly solemn.

Mike didn’t have to ask to know that I was referring to our years in the military together. He lay back on the bed next to me and answered, “No.”

“Me either.”

Our conversation turned back to happier topics as we drank our way through several more bottles. He eventually lost his pants (but kept his socks) and the two of us lounged in our underwear in the sweltering afternoon heat.

Sometime later the roar of airplanes echoed overhead, and I got up and stumbled to the window in order to watch them pass. I’d always loved to fly. As long as I could remember I’d wanted to be up in the air, watching the world shrink beneath me. The day that I beat Nike Dok in flight training was one of the best days of my life.

“Hey,” I said, still watching the planes out of my window, “Did you hear Nile and Marie got married?”

Mike shifted on the bed behind me. “When?”

I thought, counting backwards in my head. “Four months ago?” 

“Always thought you’d marry her,” Mike mused. “You dated her first.” I stayed silent, toying with the cord from my blinds. “Erwin?”

“We weren’t actually dating.”

“What?”

Why was I telling him this? It had been our secret – Marie’s and mine – for years now. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was just time. “Marie was helping me,” I said, still facing the window. Mike waited. I let out a rush of air and powered through. “I’m gay. I didn’t want anyone to find out. I guess it worked, if you didn’t know.” I laughed, tugging on the cord again. 

I was jittery with nerves. We had gone years and years without my sexuality ever coming to light. First because the military didn’t exactly support gay relationships and later because it was just easier not to bring it up. I’d had a few flings and one night stands in the past years, but nothing serious enough to force the issue. What if this put some kind of strain on our friendship? No, I shouldn’t think like that. Mike and I had known each other a long time, and I’d never seen him treat people differently because of their sexuality. 

I heard Mike slide off of the bed and approach behind me. Expecting a companionable hand on the shoulder, I was more than a little surprised when it slipped underneath my boxers instead. It came surprisingly close to my cock before I realized what was happening.

“What the fuck!” I shouted, turning, and swung my fist out. It connected solidly with Mike’s face. He staggered drunkenly backwards. 

“Holy shit, Erwin, that hurt,” he moaned, holding his face in his hands. He was going to get a nasty black eye, judging by the pain in my knuckles.

“Well, don’t shove your hand in another man’s pants!”

“You said you were gay!” He said, as if that had anything to do with it.

“That doesn’t mean I want to get groped by straight men!”

Mike removed his hands from his already darkening eye and shook his head gingerly. “I’m not straight.”

“What?”

“I’m not straight!”

I just stared at him, uncomprehending. What were the chances that two men could be friends for fifteen years without either realizing that the other was gay? 

“I thought you knew.” Mike said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“No, I didn’t know.” I slid myself down into the nearest chair. Mike stayed standing in front of me. This beautiful man, my best friend for so long, was gay? I’d never even dared to think it was possible.

“So,” I started thoughtfully, “That blonde girl isn’t your girlfriend?”

“No.” he said, without hesitation. Then – “What blonde girl?”

“Petite, short hair, glasses?”

Comprehension slowly dawned on Mike’s face. “Oh, you mean Nanaba!” He started to laugh. “Nanaba is my cousin. And prefers they/them pronouns now.” He eased onto the edge of my bed again.

“Oh. So…” I faltered, unsure how to voice the rush of hope and confusion tumbling around in my head. I gestured meaningfully between Mike and me. 

Thankfully he seemed to understand what I was asking. “Shit, Erwin,” he said, running a hand through his shaggy hair, “I’ve been in love with you since we met.” 

“Mike,” I said, concerned, “I knocked you unconscious the first time we met.”

He grinned. “You were also the first thing I saw when I woke up again,” 

“I thought I’d killed you!” 

“It takes more than a log dropped on my head to kill me.” Mike said.

“Thank God.” 

The two of us fell silent and I studied Mike across the bedroom. “Well, fuck,” I said finally. “You’re telling me we’ve been in love with each other for fifteen years without realizing?”

Mike slid back off of the bed and came to lean over me where I sat, his hands coming to rest on the arms of my chair. “If I am,” he said, his breath hot in my ear, “does that mean I can kiss you now?”

I reached up to trail one finger down his naked chest, and looked up with hooded eyes when I felt him shiver beneath the touch. “Hell yeah, you can kiss me.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, go read [These things take forever (I especially am slow)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4163316/chapters/9395643)! Also, my [Tumblr](http://elegance-of-a-mountain.tumblr.com/).


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